View and Behavior

     It's easy - for some, automatic - to react unwisely to other's unwise words and behaviors. Both parties then quickly rationalize their own bad behavior, blaming the other (delusional ego-defending). This helps perpetuate endless cycles of unnecessary suffering. 
     A surprisingly wise question to ask at this point: 'Would I rather be right or happy?' Of course both parties are wrong to harm the other. However, when they both admit their error and apologize, both are wiser & happier.

     “ 'Keep the view as vast as space. Keep your actions as fine as flour.'
     The quality of emptiness that we are referring to was never born; likewise, it cannot die. This essential nature of our lives is unborn – like space itself. Space provides no place to abide, no foothold in which to secure our steps. In skylike emptiness, we cannot be stuck. Yet here we are, alive in this wondrous world of appearances, which can always benefit from wise discernment. With particularity as fine as flour, we discriminate between actions that intend to relieve suffering for ourselves and others and those that intend to cause harm.”
       Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Helen Tworkov. “In Love with the World. A Monk’s Journey through the Bardos of Living and Dying.” Spiegel & Grau, 2019.